You stood before the king of Mirkwood, your hands clasped tightly before you as he waited for you to reply to his question. Best friends for all your life, you had each developed strong feelings for each other recently, but you both kept these affections completely secret due to fears of ruining the wonderful friendship you'd had for the longest time. Today, he had cornered you and asked brusquely if you had romantic feelings for him or not. Put off by the harshness of his tone and the lack of emotion on his face as he spoke, you declined to answer the question and slipped past him, blushing and keeping your chin up despite your whirling thoughts.

"I am patient, Y/N! I can wait!"

he called after you, but you just sped up and did not look back- and therefore, you missed the tears that came into his eyes at your reaction and the way his expression fell as you left.

"I can wait..."